No Bull Webmastering

Wordpress has become famous, for its ease of installation, and use, all over, but truth is, it really isn’t a five minute deal. Unless of course you already know what the hell you are doing. Then perhaps, a new install of this popular blogging software can be done in five minutes.

I am going to take you through the real steps, from deciding to have a blog, to actually having one and believe me, it isn’t going to take Five Minutes. IT WILL BE A LOT LONGER THAN THAT!

Grab some coffee, a cookie maybe, and get the reading glasses clean and on. This is just part one, of becoming a blogger, but you know, I LOVE IT. Hopefully you will too, as we find out that being in the Adult Industry, even as a blogger, is about the work you put into it, that will determine your success, or failure.

To be honest, even if you are planning to use this for mainstream stuff, it still holds true. In some instances, maybe more so. So come on, let’s get moving and find out that Five Minutes Install means simply adding the software. Before you can do that, you gotta spend some time setting up.

Step #1.

You need a domain name, and no, joining some free site is just bollocks. If you can’t afford $10 a year, and another $120 for your own cheap shared hosting, then you need to find another business. Free Hosts with Free Domains is just, well you giving away money, because all the Free Hosts around, make money off your traffic.

So the first step is to get yourself properly hosted, and a domain name.

Step #2.

BEFORE you sign up for any contract, with any hosting SERVICES, find out what the hell you get for your $10 a month. ( by the way, the ranges can be as cheap as $5 a month, but… you get what you pay for. ) You need to make sure that they have the updated software you will need to run Wordpress, and you can find those basics listed here.

Ideally you should get what is called cPanel and the ability to set up your databases. This requires myPHPadmin, which can set the privileges and permissions for the database. With cPanel, you can use the MYSQL WIZARD that basically does it all for you.

Warning #1 Make sure you secure your database. While the login name may not be your choice, depending on how your host has it set up, a secure password becomes even more critical. Do not use something easy for you to remember. I know, contrary to what they tell you, but seriously, if you can easily remember it, odds are some hacking program will be able to figure it out.

Use both upper and lowercase letters, use numbers plus special allowed characters like %$ etc.

Make the password 9 to 12 characters long.

Step #3.

You will need a text editor program, such as wordpad or notepad ( comes with Windows O/S ) and an FTP program. FTP ( File Transfer Protocol ) is what will put everything onto the server for you, and adjust the file permissions on the server files.

I use WS_FTP_Pro from Ipswich, and filezilla. WP (wordpress) seems to recommend Filezilla, and frankly I rather like it myself.

Step #4.

Basically this is a WARNING. If you think this is easy, FORGET IT NOW. Blogging can be, and is, time consuming. You need to make regular posts, and you need to keep your blogging tools updated to the CURRENT VERSIONS AT ALL TIMES. That means, not just the Core Wordpress, but your themes, and plugins.

YES THAT INCLUDES PLUG INS AND THEMES YOU ARE NOT USING.

You should select a topic or general theme for your blog, before you begin the entire installation process. It will help determine your theme to select, as well as the plug ins you will need. So easier if you have a clue now, than after you have installed everything.

Keep in mind too, it should be something you won’t tire of, in a month or two.

Posting should be regular. That means you need to determine a schedule of posting, whether it is every morning, afternoon, evening, or night. It should also include frequency. How many times will you add an entry?

NOTE : There are some decently ranked blogs that post once every week, some three or more times every day. It is going to depend on the ‘type of blog’ you want, as well as to the content, on how well you will rank. HOWEVER IT WON’T BE OVERNIGHT.

Choose your Blog Topic well, and also your schedule. There is no sense in being unrealistic about it. If all you are comfortable with is once every two days, then do that, but whatever schedule you set out… KEEP TO IT.

to be continued…

Mar 01st by Malcontent

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Okay so everyone have a nice coffee break?

Ready to get on with this pain in the ass blogging stuff?

I shall assume that you have downloaded the core files for Wordpress. As of the date of writing this, that should be version 2.7.1. If you haven’t downloaded and unzipped them, yet, well you should so you can follow along.

By the Way, I am also assuming that you have set up your database already, have a domain name, and got yourself a REAL HOST. If not, well, come on, get cracking as we are wasting daylight.

If you haven’t downloaded the files, you can do so from HERE.

If I were you, I would have a space on my main hard drive root directory, called the ‘domain name‘ of your site. In other words, if you had a domain called MySite, then set up a directory on your C Drive, called MySite. Unzip the wordpress files to it.

When you ‘unzip‘ the file, it will create the directories, under the folder ‘wordpress‘.

Now comes your first decision.

Do I load wordpress in its own sub directory on my server, or do I put it in the root of the domain?

When you open your file manager program, ‘windows explorer’ the C Drive is the root directory. Every other folder listed is a ’sub directory’. The files you unzipped, are in a folder called ‘Wordpress‘ which should be showing as a sub folder to your domain name folder on the hard drive. So it will look like this:

C DRIVE > MYSITE > WORDPRESS >

Personally, if all you are going to have on this domain, is the blog, then putting it in the root is a good idea. If you are going to have other files, pages, there, then choose a sub folder to create, and use that to install your blogging software.

The folder ‘MYSITE‘ should mirror your server files, as much as possible. It gives you a good fall back, if things go wrong. Now it doesn’t replace the need for a proper BACKUP.

Okay, so we have the files unzipped, and it is time to get the nitty details all done, so your server can operate Wordpress. That means you have to tell the server what to do, which is from the convenient file that came with your program, the WP-CONFIG file.

HOWEVER IT DOESN’T EXIST YET, because you have to create it. So fire up your word/text editor and please, DON’T USE MS WORD, use either NOTEPAD or WORDPAD. Look in the main folder, ‘wordpress’ for the file called “WP-CONFIG-SAMPLE.PHP“. Open it, then save it as “WP-CONFIG.PHP“. [use the same case as the file is, originally, which is lowercase.]

Scroll down in the file, till you come to this lovely area of Geek Talk.

I know, it looks like Greek, but it isn’t that hard to figure out.

in the lines that begin with ‘define’ is where you need to enter the information required, to set up the database tables, and get things going. The real key here, is to NOT OVERWRITE THE “ ‘ “ marks that are shown. Look closely at the ‘putyourdbnamehere’ and other sections. See those apostrophes? Those are CRITICAL and always, insure you put information between them, without overwriting or deleting them.

I can’t begin to tell you how frustrating it is, to have that simple of an error and the damage it causes. Damage as in the damn stuff won’t load, or work, and you wind up tearing your hair out, looking for what went wrong. You triple check the names, the password, and it all comes down to the fact you deleted one of those stupid marks.

It is a simple past job to enter the right info. You shouldn’t need to change ‘localhost’ or the charset or collate portions. Just insure you used the right database name, and password, or well, it just won’t work.

Next is the Security Keys. These help protect your blog and database from hackers, so don’t ignore them. PLUS, Wordpress does give you a link that will generate random characters that you simply cut and paste, so why not take advantage of it?

Just go to the URL listed in your config sample file, and copy each random generated code and then paste it into the config.php file. Of course, you could simply input your own, but you know, they really do it faster.

Now basically the last thing to do is set the prefix for you wordpress tables, in your database. There actually is a line for this, and the default is WP_ . HOWEVER, that is what a hacker will look for, so make up your own. No weird characters, but if they get a list of tables, they aren’t going to easily find out which is your blog ones, if you change the prefix.

Now, that is basically it, and you are ready to go, right?

to be continued…

Mar 05th by Malcontent

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Okay, now that we are totally feeling Geeky, let’s consider a few other things we can add to the config file, that will make our blogging a bit easier. One of the things we can do, is limit the number of revisions that Wordpress creates, without the need of a plugin. HOWEVER, I use the plugin, because frankly, adding this line of code to the Config File didn’t take for me. Go Figure huh?

define('WP_POST_REVISIONS', false );
This line above, will turn off the automatic revision feature in Wordpress. Why it didn’t work for me is, well a mystery. So much for feeling Geeky.

define('WP_POST_REVISIONS', 3);
Now this will set the number of revisions, so you can limit it from endless, to a specified number.

Personally I go with the plugin, because it works, and it is a lot simpler than messing with code.

Another feature you can change through the config file, is the time in between autosaves for your blog. Now I personally like the autosave feature, but I think it is a bit too quick for my liking.

define('AUTOSAVE_INTERVAL', 160 ); // seconds
Changing the number to a lower number, increases the auto save time. Making the number larger, increases the time between saves. Keep in mind, the number is in seconds.

There are other ‘advanced‘ options you can play with, and you can find them listed in pure Geek Speak, at Wordpress Here.

Once you have finished your tinkering with the Config file, save it and then you are ready to upload to the server, activate it, and get on with blogging… Sort Of.

Once you have uploaded the files, it is time to activate it. And this is where the so called ‘five minute install’ comes into play. After you have done all the work, you simply browse to the site, using the URL in this way: ” http : // mydomain.com / directory / wp-admin / install.php ” (( Naturally you would enter it without the spaces between the ‘/’ marks, and would use the actual domain name, and directory name, that wordpress is installed in. ))

KEEP A COPY ON YOUR HARD DRIVE WHERE YOU CAN EASILY FIND IT, ACCESS IT.

The reason is simple. If someone breaks in, or it gets corrupted somehow, you can easily restore your original options, by deleting the file on the server, replacing it with the one you have kept nice and safe, on your computer.

Once you have completed the install, and logged into your admin dashboard, time to do something very important. ACTIVATE AKISMET ANTI SPAM PLUG IN !

DO NOT WAIT, DO NOT PASS GO, DO NOT COLLECT $200 UNTIL YOU ACTIVATE AKISMET.

Simply go to the sidebar, click on Plugins and look for the Akismet name. Go to the right, and click on Activate, OR select it and then go up and use the drop down menu to activate and click proceed.

It will activate, HOWEVER, a red warning will pop up across the top, telling you that it needs attention, which is a fancy geek way of saying you have do something. That something, is to enter an API key that you have to get from Wordpress. It is free, and isn’t really much of a hassle to get.

All you need to do, to get one, is to have signed up for Wordpress. That Page is HERE.

Now the account is free, and it doesn’t mean you have to set up a blog and all that. However, you do need it to get the Free API Key to activate Akismet, and that, YOU DO NEED.

Next up, getting the settings down, permalinks and all that other fun stuff. Plus, getting acquainted with the new Admin Dashboard in version 2.7 Kind of makes me wonder, if 2.8 is going to be different, but hey, that’s for another post.

Right now, feel good, because you have actually done a real geeky thing, you have installed a working blog in your own domain, on your own server, your virtual new store front on the Internet.

to be continued…

Mar 11th by Malcontent

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Okay now that you have the spam being dealt with, what comes next?

Frankly before you start considering themes, and additional plug ins, you should worry a bit more about how your blog is going to be organized. That includes choosing a user name, as well as helping secure your administration of the blog.

Step one, is to go to the Users drop down, and set up a New User.

Why you ask? Well, to avoid using ‘admin’ as your well, admin. A blog is supposed to be ‘personal’ and using ‘admin’ just isn’t, well friendly. It implies ‘authority’ as in say Boss, or Superior, so we need to change that. After all, impressions count.

Then too, there is the security issues. Hackers will try to find the easiest route into controlling your blog, or stealing it. Having a user name as ‘admin‘ is kind of like, well taking out a full page ad at Hacker Dot Com. So to avoid that headache, setting up a NEW USER with full administration permissions is a good idea.

Now, some in the blogging world suggest you also DELETE the old admin user. I dunno, I am a bit scared of that, but hey, I am Blond. Perhaps the solution is, that if you do delete it, you also have a ‘back up’ user that is also fully permitted to act as administrator.

This isn’t about getting friends or associates to do it either, but in you creating a couple of new identities for yourself, in the blog.

I think too, that we tend to over complicate things, but picking out a good screen name, or posting name, can benefit a closer inter action between your posts, and your customers. Naturally it should be reflective of the blog theme (as in content theme, not display theme). So for example, if your blog is about big boobed women, choosing a name like tiny tits isn’t going to be very helpful, or make your customer trust you, now is it?

First up, is simply take a look around at the admin section. Notice the sidebar to the left? Each one of those topics, has a drop down display, for more options.

It is a big improvement, over the old style admin navigation bar, that was on the top.

This makes it a lot easier to find what you need, when you need it.

Each subject, has a drop down display, for showing further options.

Right now, we want to adjust the blog settings, which you will find at the bottom of this sidebar.

Mouse over the top right of the box, where ’settings’ is shown, click it and see all of the options that are now available.

Clicking any of them, will bring up the appropriate page, to the right, where you can make any changes, or to see what is already been set, by default.

Your first option, is GENERAL, and that is where you can set the time your blog displays, to your own local time.

For myself, on the westcoast of Canada, I have mine set to -7 now that it is daylight savings time.

Keep note of that, because right now, blogs don’t have anyway to adjust for daylight savings time.

You can also ‘hide’ this sidebar, or at least make it smaller, by again simply mousing over the line just under ‘Dashboard’. This will change the display to just icons, rather than icons & words.

Note that “settings” bar, because most of the plugins you activate, will have any user options listed under that heading. That is where you will be able to tweak the Platinum SEO plugin for example, or add your keywords to the Blog Mechanics plugin, or set up the Ping Optimizer one, or… well you get the idea.

Okay, coffee & potty break, as it is midnight here, and I need a break.

And you thought the five minute install, meant everything done in five minutes… HA!

Mar 13th by Malcontent

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Well, had a look around have you?

Seems intimidating but in all honesty, its not all that bad. Keep in mind to think things through first, and even maybe jot them down on some paper.

General

I think it is pretty straight forward. You adjust the blog time, to correspond to your own time, and I like the first day shown to be Sunday. Now if you don’t have a posting calendar displayed, it really doesn’t make much difference, but if you do, then Sunday will be more familiar for your customers.

IF your blog isn’t going to want comments, or subscribers to it, DE SELECT the option of ” Anyone can register ” which will turn off the ‘register’ feature on the sidebar.

If your blog is about simply affiliate marketing, to me, it doesn’t make sense to have surfer’s dropping by and registering. Anyone can still subscribe to the blog feed, whether a member or not. They just can’t comment, unless you let them in other settings.

Myself, depending on the blog, I would go with de selecting that option. Who wants to moderate a ton of spam comments?

Writing

This is where you can adjust the actual ‘write box’ where you can spell out your pearls of wisdom, and display all those hot sexy pictures, that will get the surfers drooling, and signing up to your sponsors. YOU HOPE!

Adjusting the number of lines, will decrease or increase the amount of writing space you have available at one time. Make it too large, and well, you’ll be scrolling up and down to add styles or insert links or pictures.

I use between 15 and 20, depending on the blog I am doing. Some that are brief ( hard to believe I write brief blogs, but I do. ) I don’t need a lot of writing space. Others, I do, but I like to keep the entire white space visible, including the editor toolbars. It comes in handy to underline a link, to bold a word, or insert images and links.

Notice that you also get to set the default blog category, and link category. When you first install Wordpress, the only category for posts, is titled ‘uncatagorized’ which isn’t very appealing. You’ll have to change that, but it should be a generic category title. Something simple, like General works, or News, because you want to keep your posts categorized properly.

Using a general category allows for any accidental deletions of other categories, to default to this one, so you can always find them. Most blogs, don’t use their categories well, because of simple laziness. My reason for selecting a generic main category, is that rarely do I post in there. So if I do screw up and delete another category, it will be easy to find, to shift and re categorize, without wading through a lot of other stuff.

Blogroll is different.

First off, I’d like to strangle whoever named it that, as while it is descriptive, it is also, well, just lame. However, I’d not recommend renaming it, and again have it as your default link category.

One main reason is that many themes, DO NOT RECOGNIZE MULTIPLE LINK CATEGORIES. In fact, they lump them all under ‘one’. Now this particular theme allows the display of multiple link categories. However if I were to use a different theme that didn’t, and didn’t have ‘blogroll’ set, there is a good chance the other links would just disappear. Can’t have that. And no, not always does that happen, but better safe than sorry.

By disappear, I am referring to them simply not showing up. They should be intact, in your blog link listings, just not visible. It would make having to adjust them a pain, if ‘blogroll’ wasn’t the default. By simply ‘deleting the alternative link categories’ you would default each link to ‘blogroll’ which the new theme would be displaying.

One of the best ideas they had, was to make link categories separate from the posting categories. It has its own tab, and this makes your job a lot simpler, and easier.

Simply select the different categories, use the drop down box to choose ‘delete’ and then apply. That will set all other links to the default.  Course, if you choose your theme wisely, you won’t have this issue.

to be continued…

Mar 14th by Malcontent

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